Hasta La Ideas

London Design Festival: London design journalist and photographer Barbara Chandler has selected ten of her favourite photographs from this year’s London Design Festival, including portraits of Martino Gamper, Industrial Facility (above) and Tord Boontje.

Chandler, who is design writer for the London Evening Standard, has been writing about design for around 35 years and has documented the London Design Festival each year since its launch in 2003.

A self-taught photographer, she is a familiar sight at design events around Europe with her Canon EOS 500D (and Tamron 18-270mm lens) slung around her neck. She does not use a tripod, but improvises with furniture and walls, and rarely uses flash.

“I am never happier than when taking pictures. A photograph freezes a precious moment in time with a power not possible in words. All my Design Portraits, which now stretch back many years, have been captured out at events – not set up with fancy lighting in studios. I think my subjects find me unthreatening and usually pose quite happily. I love to mix raw new talent with the big guys – and frankly usually prefer the former.”

Chandler has held many exhibitions and last year published the best-selling book Love London, with 180 photographs of the capital. She has also published her photographs on textiles and bone china (in John Lewis department stores, and at the Pitfield Gallery, London, with a new range for Christmas at Habitat, London).

Currently Barbara Chandler is working on a portfolio entitled Design Portraits which will be a major show in 2013. Love London is available at Dezeen Super Store at 38 Monmouth Street London WC2 until 30 September.

See all our stories about the London Design Festival here, explore our free London Design Festival map here and listen to audio recorded with designers at their events here.

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photographs by Barbara Chandler appeared first on Dezeen.